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NIOPDC Signs 5 Research MoUs

The National Iranian Oil Production and Distribution Company has signed five memoranda of understanding on research projects with domestic universities and scientific centers in the past three months, the head of NIOPDC’s Research, Development and Technology Department said on Tuesday.

“The company had signed 37 research MoUs in the last Iranian year [ended March 19, 2016],” Ali Derakhshani was also quoted as saying by Shana.

Established in 1928, NIOPDC, with about 10,000 personnel, oversees the daily distribution of over 240 million liters of petroleum products throughout the country. The company’s storage capacity of petroleum products stands at 12.7 billion liters, according to its official website.

Derakhshani added that researchers have submitted 17 scientific articles and 14 books to NIOPDC in the three-month span. According to the official, the state-owned company has outlined the department’s missions in the present year, which aim to develop and institutionalize research and technology.

The pursuit of research projects underway until they reach the stage of signing a contract with the Oil Ministry’s subsidiary companies is the main mission of the department.

Derakhshani noted that increasing the quality as well as the number of works to be undertaken by the department, which includes those by the provincial research departments, identifying universities active in the sector and embarking on signing MoUs with them and the implementation of existing agreements, are high on NIOPDC’s list of priorities in the present year.

Pointing to some of the scientific projects, which are currently being carried out under the supervision of NIOPDC, he said the company is working on the industrial production of compressed natural gas compressors’ lubricant, in cooperation with the Oil Ministry’s scientific arm, Research Institute of Petroleum Industry. The project costs over $160,000.

"NIOPDC is also cooperating with the institute on the design of the recycling system of hydrocarbon compounds, which costs about $118,000 to conclude," Derakhshani added.

The official stressed that NIOPDC’s support for research and technology projects is part of the company’s efforts to enhance creativity and innovation in resolving technical problems in providing, storing, transferring and distributing petroleum products.

Esmaeil Hasham-Firouz, NIOPDC’s director for export and import, said earlier in May that Iran has, for the first time, embarked on exporting liquefied gas to African countries in ISO tanks, which could be considered a solution to the African countries’ lack of unloading facilities.